the Business Forum and
the Economic Partnership
in Brighton & Hove
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climate
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Brighton & Hove Business Forum
8-11 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton, BN1 1EE
Tel: 01273 735442
Email: info@brighton
business.co.uk

© Brighton & Hove
Business Forum

Welcome
This is the official web site of the Business Forum and the Economic Partnership in Brighton & Hove

The Business Forum is the city centre management initiative for Brighton & Hove but its projects extend outside the strict geographical boundaries of the city centre and include Hove town centre management. It is supported by seven core business funders and the local authority.

Projects range from the Brighton & Hove Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) [with nearly 400 members operating in both the day-time and night-time economy] to the organisation of markets and events across the city. The Business Forum also established Brighton's first Business Improvement District (BID) [and only the second in the south-east] and provides project management and administration to the BID. The Brighton BID will generate about £1m to provide additional services to businesses in the BID area.

The Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership (BHEP) is funded by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and works with other stakeholders to devise the economic strategy for the city. It works with other Economic Partnerships across the south-east to input into the economic strategy for the region.

Details of key project areas for the BHBF and BHEP are shown on the left hand side of this Homepage and latest news is shown on the right hand side. All documents and stories are archived in the Knowledge Base which can be searched by subject or keyword.

The site also lists contact details of the partners (other Brighton & Hove business associations) that we work with and has a number of links to other useful sites.

Latest news
12 March 2010 - News
Panel will look into culture for children
Brighton & Hove City Council has set up a cross-party inquiry to look at the cultural provision for children and young people in the city. Read more...
12 March 2010 - News
Hove charity gains social enterprise award
Sussex Central YMCA has been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark, which identifies it as an organisation trading for social and environmental purposes. Read more...
12 March 2010 - News
Voting Opens for Best Brighton Food Venues
The Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards are being launched as part of this year's Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival spring events, offering you the chance to choose the city's top "foodie" destinations. Read more...
12 March 2010 - News
More jobs but even more applicants
With 1% more job vacancies in February compared with January it looks as though the job market might be starting to move. But as there are now 19 applicants for every job it is no time for job seekers to get complacent. Read more...
12 March 2010 - News
Online fraud set to take over from credit card fraud
Some good news for retailers is that debit and credit card fraud is falling. The bad news though is that this fall is being offset by an increase in online fraud. Read more...
12 March 2010 - News
Snow proves to be a major disruption for retail
UK retail sales values rose 2.2% on a like-for-like basis from February 2009, when sales had dropped 1.8%, hit by snow and consumer caution. On a total basis, sales rose 4.5% against only 0.1% growth in February 2009. Read more...
12 March 2010 - News
Conservative's planning green paper published
The Conservative Party's planning green paper has been published and it includes proposals to strengthen "appeals against local planning decisions from local residents". Read more...
11 March 2010 - News
Road Works Update
Parts of Western Road, New Road and Kensington Gardens have all been scheduled for works over the coming weeks. With the Brighton Marathon imminent and closures planned across the city, the Council's traffic department has just released an update of the latest road works for the week commencing 14th March. Read more...
10 March 2010 - News
City Council offers free advertising to recycling savvy businesses
From the 1st of February 2010 any business that supplies more than 32kg of batteries a year will have to take back used batteries from the public free of charge. Businesses offering a 'take-back' scheme can now qualify for free advertising on the City Council's website. Read more...
10 March 2010 - News
Montefiore House planning application
A planning application has been submitted to convert Montefiore House in Hove, empty since it was vacated by Legal & General in 2005, into a musculoskeletal injury outpatient clinic. Read more...
9 March 2010 - News
Another week, another statement of intent on RDAs
Rowing back from a previous statement on the future of regional development agencies [RDAs] under a Conservative government, shadow business secretary Ken Clarke now says that they would scrap all of England's 9 RDAs in their current form and replace them with partnerships of local authorities working across "real economic areas". Read more...
8 March 2010 - News
Bupa stays put in Brighton
A week after MD Alistair How sang the praises of the Brighton workforce, Bupa International has agreed a new lease on 4,180 sq metres of office space at Victory House in Trafalgar Place near Brighton railway station. Read more...
8 March 2010 - News
The Sussex Internship Programme
The University of Sussex in partnership with Wired Sussex is aiming to deliver 175 graduate internships under its current funding round. An internship will provide a 20 day (minimum) graduate-level placement within any small to medium companies in the Sussex for companies with more than 30 employees. Could your company benefit? Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Brighton & Hove house price update Q4 2009
Land Registry figures show that the average house price in the city in December 2009 [£212,068] was 10% lower than the high of £235,939 in November 2007. But that's only half the story. Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Relentless Software boss joins Wired Sussex Board
Wired Sussex, the independent digital media support agency based in Brighton, has announced this week that Andrew Eades, founder and Executive Director of Relentless Software, has joined its Board. Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Brighton's retailers show a united front
The businesses in the key trading areas of Brighton and Hove have come together to organise a grand festival of shopping. Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Historic bandstand shortlisted for lighting award
The lighting scheme at Brighton 's historic seafront bandstand has been shortlisted for a national award at the Lighting Design Awards on Thursday March 11. Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Too Soon for Food Labelling Change
British Retail Consortium says that UK retailers are at the forefront of providing the maximum possible nutritional information in the clearest possible way. So why change things now? Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Tourism Futures event
Tourism Futures - the partnership which is supported by City College, Brighton & Hove City Council and many other hospitality and retail organisations within the city - is holding an event to celebrate the achievements of the project. Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Time is running out for rates appeals
Small firms are being warned that they have less than a month left if they want to contest their business rates over the past five years. Read more...
5 March 2010 - News
Tuck in to Brighton & Hove in 2010
A new 'Spring Harvest' festival comes to Brighton & Hove from Thursday 11 - Sunday 21 March. Read more...
3 March 2010 - News
Hove charity wins national acclaim
Sussex Central YMCA has been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark, nationally identifying them as trading for social and environmental purposes. Read more...
3 March 2010 - News
Sussex 'Make you mark with a tenner' students set to make over £4,000 in one month
This week 267 Sussex students have taken up Peter Jones' challenge of turning £10 into a projected £4,650 in just one month with their own community-minded, enterprising ideas, as part of Enterprise UK's 'Make Your Mark with a Tenner' campaign. Read more...
3 March 2010 - News
HBA gets royal insight
As part of a fantastic calendar of networking events for 2010, Hove Business Association recently rubbed shoulders with a royal connection, giving local businesses an insight in to the work of Her Majesty the Queen's Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex. Read more...
1 March 2010 - News
High profile BIDs win second round
Two high profile early BIDs have come up for renewal and both have been given a huge vote of confidence. Read more...
28 February 2010 - News
Council consults on cultural strategy
Culture is one of the driving forces of Brighton & Hove and has been for hundreds of years - it is the city's past and its present; the draft Cultural Strategy aims to set out what culture will mean to its future. Read more...
28 February 2010 - News
High Court decision casts doubt on Council's housing plans for Brighton Gasworks site.
A recent High Court decision that house builder Crest Nicholson will have to pay a share of the multi-million pound clean-up bill for a contaminated site it had already remediated will deter developers from taking on such sites. Brighton & Hove's Core Strategy proposes building nearly 150 homes on a contaminated site. Read more...
27 February 2010 - News
Think smallest first when policy-making, FPB tells Government
Legislators need to think smallest first in order to safeguard the future of Britain's small firms, according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB). Read more...
27 February 2010 - News
New Grant Funding available for Sussex Businesses
In 2008, The European Network for Workplace Health Promotion found that for every 80p spent on health promotion and intervention programmes, £4 can be saved due to reduced absenteeism and use of temporary staff as well as improved motivation. Read more...
27 February 2010 - News
Latest thinking on saving utility costs
East Sussex businesses are snapping up FREE places (worth up to £500) at BETRE Spring 2010 training events, which help cut business utility costs and improve environmental performance. Read more...
 


Browse our business Knowledgebase or search by keyword


Headlines

12 March 2010
Panel will look into culture for children
12 March 2010
Hove charity gains social enterprise award 12 March 2010
Voting Opens for Best Brighton Food Venues 12 March 2010
More jobs but even more applicants 12 March 2010
Online fraud set to take over from credit card fraud 12 March 2010
Snow proves to be a major disruption for retail 12 March 2010
Conservative's planning green paper published 11 March 2010
Road Works Update 10 March 2010
City Council offers free advertising to recycling savvy businesses 10 March 2010
Montefiore House planning application 9 March 2010
Another week, another statement of intent on RDAs 8 March 2010
Bupa stays put in Brighton 8 March 2010
The Sussex Internship Programme 5 March 2010
Brighton & Hove house price update Q4 2009 5 March 2010
Relentless Software boss joins Wired Sussex Board 5 March 2010
Brighton's retailers show a united front 5 March 2010
Historic bandstand shortlisted for lighting award 5 March 2010
Too Soon for Food Labelling Change 5 March 2010
Tourism Futures event 5 March 2010
Time is running out for rates appeals 5 March 2010
Tuck in to Brighton & Hove in 2010 3 March 2010
Hove charity wins national acclaim 3 March 2010
Sussex 'Make you mark with a tenner' students set to make over £4,000 in one month 3 March 2010
HBA gets royal insight 1 March 2010
High profile BIDs win second round 28 February 2010
Council consults on cultural strategy 28 February 2010
High Court decision casts doubt on Council's housing plans for Brighton Gasworks site. 27 February 2010
Think smallest first when policy-making, FPB tells Government 27 February 2010
New Grant Funding available for Sussex Businesses 27 February 2010
Latest thinking on saving utility costs 27 February 2010
2009 UK economic growth better than previously thought 27 February 2010
Brighton proves exemplary in managing the night time economy 27 February 2010
Brighton Marathon: meeting for retailers 23 February 2010
Latest weekly footfall figures for Brighton city centre 21 February 2010
Brighton driving school saved after going into administration 20 February 2010
Business Improvement Districts: a way out of recession 20 February 2010
Creative approach to business support 20 February 2010
Talking bus stops get a boost 19 February 2010
Housing shortage costs Brighton & Hove Council over £69,000/week 19 February 2010
City's Economy gets Market Boost